Nexus brand officially dead, Google declares

Google is proudly proclaiming that its new Google Pixel and Google Pixel XL are “Made by Google,” despite the fact that HTC has assembled the phones themselves, but Google is taking responsibility for the design and engineering that has gone into crafting these phones. Unfortunately for diehard former brand fans, Google has said that the Nexus brand is going away and will be no more.

The Google Nexus account at Twitter has said just as much this week:

As Nexus users, you’ve played an integral role in this journey for Google. We’re excited about Pixel, and want you to know that we’ll continue to support Nexus (customer support, software updates, etc) & @googlenexus will continue to be a place for Nexus convos (2/2).

The above tweet from the Google Nexus Twitter account suggests that, despite the continued support, the Nexus brand has reached the end of the line — that there’ll be no more so-branded products made or announced in the future. In other words, the former brand that supported Android OEM cooperation with the search engine giant is officially dead. Google doesn’t want to go ahead and say it, but they’ve done everything to indicate the brand is dead but say so.

We’ve had hints that the Nexus brand was going the way of the dodo. First, we heard that Verizon would relabel the phones, then we heard that Google would name the new phones Pixel, then the company changed the Nexus Launcher to “Pixel” Launcher to align with the new phones — a sign that the former brand was slowly but surely being eased out of the company’s products and plans.

Well, for what it’s worth, the 2015-branded smartphone that was a collaboration between Google and Huawei (with both Google and Huawei on it) is still on the market, and it still has a respectable camera, aluminum design, and update eligibility for Android Nougat, so those who still want the old-branded smartphone can still buy it (though it’s gone from the Google Store for good). And, as for that Huawei-made tablet with the old five-letter branding, forget about it. With the new Pixel branding with the “G” logo, Google is making a claim that it no longer intends to have smartphones made as collaborative efforts between itself and OEMs where both names are placed on them. From now on, Google is the only one whose name will appear on the Pixel devices. Huawei won’t make the rumored tablet, but it doesn’t look to make any other “G” devices, either.

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